Thursday, April 23, 2009

Doughnut Therapy and Humor Author FAQ's


Note: Next humor story May 1st. April Humor story posted below.

Are you really addicted to chocolate doughnuts? Totally and completely. It drives my husband crazy. He is a health nut and never eats anything bad. The invention of Krispy Kreme was my undoing. I need to start some kind of support group: Doughnuts Anonymous: for doughnut addicts and the people who love them. I'll send my husband. He could use the therapy in dealing with my issues.
Where do you get your crazy ideas? All my ideas come from my family. The dynamics of the different personalities in our family just lend themselves to humorous situations. Me...the dreamy wife with no practical bone in my body....my husband the frugal, straight, practical man...and all my children who are bursting with personality traits just ready to be enjoyed in stories. I walk around with index cards and pencils sticking out of all the pockets of my jeans, coats, purses, and shirts, so I can record all of their escapades. Then I file the index cards away for later use.

If I wanted to write a book, how would I get published? Where do I start? My first advice is to decide what genre you want to write and then study it for awhile to get a feel for it. I once read about a romance author who read a hundred romance novels before she started writing her own. By then she really had a feel for the conventions of the genre she wanted to write and was able to get her novel published.

Next read a few books on how to write. You can avoid many first time writing mistakes this way. Writer's Digest has excellent books on all aspects and genres.

After you finish your manuscript have at least five friends read it. Then have it reviewed by a writer's critique group. This is vital. There are many things you just can't see in your own writing because of your bias as the author. You can find writer's critique groups online. One such group for LDS women is ANWA.

Finally, after you have done all this, begin sending your manuscript to agents and publishers. Study the market before you do this to be sure you're sending your manuscript to the right publishers. And remember: Never give up! Even if you have to revise your manuscript again or start a new one in a different genre. Every author goes through many modes of rejection before they finally find their niche! Best of luck in your writing endeavors!

3 comments:

Chas Hathaway said...

You can add me to the dohnuts anonymous group...

- Chas
http://chas.willowrise.com

Marie' said...

I found all that very interesting. Not that I have any plans to write a book soon or anything, but I am amazed at how much you get done! That is a lot of work. You are amazing!

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